The Speedway Show - Saturday 15th November 2025

[IainB]

27 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Sad to read that re British Final doesn't seem that long ago when it was held at Coventry with Wiggy, Tatum, Morton, Havelock, Silver, Thorpe, Cox, PC when you would regularly have 10k plus turn up.

Last time it was held at the NSS at the weekend a few years back I seem to remember the crowd being quite good

[gjcone44]

4 minutes ago, IainB said:

Last time it was held at the NSS at the weekend a few years back I seem to remember the crowd being quite good

what's weekends got to do with anything  😁

[The White Knight]

3 hours ago, PotteringAround said:

Sadly, there are indeed a lot of insular, narrow-minded, stuck-in-the-past, head-in-the-sand speedway supporters, who think it's still 1940s Britain with Hitler, Rickets Diphtheria and Ringworm.

Of course we all love old Doris and Bob, who turn up at their club every week with their rattle, tartan blanket and Thermos flask. They tell us great stories of how when they lived in London, they would cycle to a different track every night to watch speedway, go dancing, have some fish and chips, and still have change out of a farthing. 

Doris and Bob love a Saturday morning in a village hall looking at a 1961 Ove Fundin rosette. 

But should Danny Ford spend "just £15" (plus fuel, plus food, plus 10 hours of his day) travelling a 320 mile round trip to a village near Coventry to talk to Doris and Bob?  Will this increase Poole attendance?  Will it increase his business turnover?   Of course not.

I ended up talking to Phillip Lanning at a meeting earlier this season.  He handles a lot of the marketing for Glasgow and Belle Vue (two of the more forward-thinking clubs in terms of marketing - and two of the clubs who don't bother wasting £15 at the village fayre).  He was saying how they both spent thousands on strategic partnerships with Facebook and the media company which owns the biggest local newspapers in Glasgow and Manchester.  (Reach Media, I think?).  He said the Facebook advertising won't necessarily be seen by existing fans as it's not targeted at them.  It can be targeted at very specific demographics of interest, and feedback is monitored.  Speedway has to move with the times and use the clever marketing technology which is available.  The social media generation of Youtube, TikTok and Instagram are who we need to attract.  Doris and Bob are not the future.   The past is a foreign country; They do things differently there.     

Whilst I take your point, that the future is the way to go, I do not agree with your your premise regarding Doris and Bob.

You need to think about ALL Speedway Supporters and that includes the elderly. There is a theory that you can learn from History. Perhaps you could look back to when Speedway really was popular, when good folk, young and old, flocked to Speedway Meetings for the noise, the excitement, the smell, the thrills, the spills and the entertainment. Look at those points I make now. How many apply today?  Noise - Yes, Excitement - Yes, Smell - No, Thrills and Spills - Yes (too many of the latter, these days), Entertainment - No, not really. No second Half from where you grow your future riders.

I would argue that Speedway, which purports to be a Sport, has lost it's way. The Grand Prix system, I believe, has degraded the Sport in this Country. It is too gimmicky. I just mention the laughably named - Last Qualifying Round/Race. Too  many places are given to the top riders from the previous year - these riders are SELECTED from their efforts this year for the World Championship for next year. What is fair and equal about that?

Then we come to the League - no the wonder Supporters drift away when their Team win the League, only to find they have to win another competition to win it AGAIN (Play Offs aka: an injustice) - not fair. If you want another competition - fine - but don't call it the League Championship, for that it isn't.

They (the Promoters) have changed what used to be a great Sport that people used to attend enthusiastically, into fifteen races - and that's it.

Bare minimum offered to Supporters. High  prices to be paid, when money these days is extremely tight. Finally the riders themselves have lost touch with the Supporters. No going for a drink afterward as in the old days. All of these things add up.

Well, I am off to get my flask and my blanket - it is cold this time of year.

Much Love

Doris and Bob.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

7 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Some very insular narrow minded thinking from head in the sands speedway “supporters” . Reflects fully the attitude of most “promoters” 

You never know you might get visitors to the show from the museum…… cross promotion of the event by parking some speedway bikes outside on a riders van .. or offering some freebies of club mercndise outside to promote the event. Really needs some on in PR at the BSPL to get off their a*** and do some work. 
Frankly I don’t hold out much hope…. But speedway lumbers along slowly sinking

I was only thinking today while it was waiting to open, it’s not only the British motor museum but it’s also home to jaguar and Aston Martin, what if they the management of those company’s were there today and popped over for a look and feel they could maybe help out speedway or even 1 of the teams ?  You never know, the build it and they will come doesn’t work anymore, the mountain doesn’t come to you, you have to go to the mountain, I had some good chats today with some big folks within the sport, I put some ideas to them and they told me some ideas too, not saying mine or theirs are the right way but at least we are out there trying, like I say you never know but if you don’t try you can gaurentee you will get nothing 

[noaksey]

20 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I was only thinking today while it was waiting to open, it’s not only the British motor museum but it’s also home to jaguar and Aston Martin, what if they the management of those company’s were there today and popped over for a look and feel they could maybe help out speedway or even 1 of the teams ?  You never know, the build it and they will come doesn’t work anymore, the mountain doesn’t come to you, you have to go to the mountain, I had some good chats today with some big folks within the sport, I put some ideas to them and they told me some ideas too, not saying mine or theirs are the right way but at least we are out there trying, like I say you never know but if you don’t try you can gaurentee you will get nothing 

A fair point but Jaguar LR have their hands full with their data issues currently you'd imagine 

There's been speedway in the Birmingham/Coventry area for a long time and they've never been involved afaik and presumably they've been asked....

 

[PotteringAround]

2 hours ago, The White Knight said:

 I do not agree with your your premise regarding Doris and Bob.

You need to think about ALL Speedway Supporters and that includes the elderly.

You've completely missed the point.  (perhaps you haven't been following the thread from the start?)

No one is suggesting Doris and Bob should be ignored.  No one is saying they shouldn't be catered for.  They are absolutely an important part of our speedway family.  As important as any other fan.  Maybe more so - they've been there through thick and thin.

And no one has knocked today's Collectors Fair.  Everyone seems to agree it's a great product and they have praised the fans who organised it.   It's a great way for super-fans to pick up old programmes and memorabilia, and see old bike, old leathers and wallow in brilliant nostalgia with like-minded friends.  A great day out for fans.

What we've been reacting to, is a crazy suggestion that all 2026 club promoters should be there because it's a chance to market the sport to new fans.    Of course this is nonsense, and this is what we are all disagreeing with.

This collectors fair provides a great day of nostalgia for diehard existing fans (Doris and Bob).  But young Oliver and Amelia are at home playing on their smartphones.   They were born in 2015, so they are not interested in a show of oily old 1960s bikes.  They've never heard of speedway.   And 30-year-old Tarquin and Jennifer, who run their successful dot.com business, (who could be a potential speedway sponsors of the future), are not wandering round a village hall collectors fair on a saturday afternoon either.   In short, there are no ordinary members of the public, potential new supporters, for promoters to market to.   

It would be a completely pointless waste of a day for Chris Louis, or Matt Ford, or Gerry Facenna to be there at a collectors fair, selling the sport to Doris and Bob, who have been there and bought the t-shirt many years before Tarquin and Jennifer were born. 

That's what we are disagreeing with - The suggestion that current promoters should be forced into wasting their time at a collectors fair when there are far more important issues they need to be addressing.

 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 hours ago, noaksey said:

A fair point but Jaguar LR have their hands full with their data issues currently you'd imagine 

There's been speedway in the Birmingham/Coventry area for a long time and they've never been involved afaik and presumably they've been asked....

 

But my point was this was at the home of jaguar and Aston Martin so you never know, I did have one guy come to my stand today saying he worked at the venue and was a historian and even brought 2 books off me saying they would help with his work, they were the history of Hackney speedway and speedway in London ? Yes it’s one man but unless your out there in the space they won’t come to you, I wouldn’t bank on any big company being asked, speedway is so cocooned in it’s own little world it doesn’t talk to anyone, a couple of the sellers will be at Lincoln auto jumble tomorrow, again getting speedway out there in the public space 

Edited Saturday at 10:21 PM by THE DEAN MACHINE

[martinmauger]

In the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset, named after the guy who started the famous maintenace manuals, there used to be a 'speedway room', packed with speeedway exhibits.  This would have been around 10 years or so back, infuriatingly I can't find my pics right now, but there were race bibs, bikes, pictures, a looping history video, etc.  Don't appear to be there anymore on the website the website you need to download the map to view but it was situated in area named 'Motorcycle Mezzanine'.  Yes, pretty much right at the back.

https://www.haynesmuseum.org/the-museum/

Time was short so sadly we coudn't hang around, but the girl on reception was amazed when I asked "where the speedway was at ?" as, I didn't have a lot of time.  Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I walked past 20mins later saying "that's all I came to see, must dash".  I mean who wants to spend hours viewing IOM TT bikes, F1 cars, rally cars, a room full of Ferraris, etc after speedway anyway 😉.  Well, I did actually, but oh well.....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:11 PM by martinmauger
spelling

[Neila]

34 minutes ago, martinmauger said:

In the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset, named after the guy who started the famous maintenace manuals, there used to be a 'speedway room', packed with speeedway exhibits.  This would have been around 10 years or so back, infuriatingly I can't find my pics right now, but there were race bibs, bikes, pictures, a looping history video, etc.  Don't appear to be there anymore on the website the website you need to download the map to view but it was situated in area named 'Motorcycle Mezzanine'.  Yes, pretty much right at the back.

https://www.haynesmuseum.org/the-museum/

Time was short so sadly we coudn't hang around, but the girl on reception was amazed when I asked "where the speedway was at ?" as, I didn't have a lot of time.  Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I walked past 20mins later saying "that's all I came to see, must dash".  I mean who wants to spend hours viewing IOM TT bikes, F1 cars, rally cars, a room full of Ferraris, etc after speedway anyway 😉.  Well, I did actually, but oh well.....

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately that museum was dismantled and a lot of stock was sold off a couple of years ago I think 

[The Cheese]

Rather than asking what is there to gain for clubs attending this, maybe they should be asking what is there to lose? At the very least you would think that the costs should pretty much be covered by sales of merchandise. 

Hand out some free/discounted tickets for next season. Your track might be miles away but we're heading into the time of year where people will be travelling to see family, maybe they have relatives close by who haven't attended before. They might have a friend at work who holidays in that area every summer. 

And who knows, maybe there's a potential sponsor there or someone who could introduce you to one?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

10 hours ago, Neila said:

Unfortunately that museum was dismantled and a lot of stock was sold off a couple of years ago I think 

It was, it was auctioned off a couple of years back, I bid on a couple of bikes myself but didn’t win, if I remember rightly Martin Yates was reunited with his bike which the family brought from him when he retired 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

4 minutes ago, The Cheese said:

Rather than asking what is there to gain for clubs attending this, maybe they should be asking what is there to lose? At the very least you would think that the costs should pretty much be covered by sales of merchandise. 

Hand out some free/discounted tickets for next season. Your track might be miles away but we're heading into the time of year where people will be travelling to see family, maybe they have relatives close by who haven't attended before. They might have a friend at work who holidays in that area every summer. 

And who knows, maybe there's a potential sponsor there or someone who could introduce you to one?

Exactly this but some folk just don’t see it, every opportunity, every bit counts and the bspl are the biggest naysayers when it comes to it 

Edited Sunday at 09:51 AM by THE DEAN MACHINE

[singy13]

17 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I had some good chats today with some big folks within the sport, I put some ideas to them and they told me some

Was anything revealed regarding the 2026 league set up, i.e. one or two divisions or was that subject taboo ?

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

17 hours ago, noaksey said:

A fair point but Jaguar LR have their hands full with their data issues currently you'd imagine 

There's been speedway in the Birmingham/Coventry area for a long time and they've never been involved afaik and presumably they've been asked....

 

I think Aston Martin is in a worse state than speedway at the moment too. Although the guy behind it still has a few bob!

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

1 hour ago, singy13 said:

Was anything revealed regarding the 2026 league set up, i.e. one or two divisions or was that subject taboo ?

They are planning 2 leagues but the rest is all speculation and if I’m honest I don’t think they know themselves 

Edited Sunday at 01:50 PM by THE DEAN MACHINE

[YeOldPitGate]

21 hours ago, IainB said:

Last time it was held at the NSS at the weekend a few years back I seem to remember the crowd being quite good

Yes from memory Ian it used to be on a Sunday around midday, place was packed to the rafters, air horns, Tatum the villan to most, Havelock and Silver just starting to get up the rungs the top ladder , PC & Mort on the way down but still a handful.

Great days.

[IainB]

55 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Yes from memory Ian it used to be on a Sunday around midday, place was packed to the rafters, air horns, Tatum the villan to most, Havelock and Silver just starting to get up the rungs the top ladder , PC & Mort on the way down but still a handful.

Great days.

Yes, they were indeed great days but it was staged on a Sunday in 22 & 23, a Saturday in 24 before returning to a Monday and a pish poor crowd in 25

[arnieg]

2 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

They are planning    hoping that something will turn up so they can run  2 leagues but the rest is all speculation and if I’m honest I don’t think they know themselves 

 

[Fortythirtyeight]

19 hours ago, PotteringAround said:

You've completely missed the point.  (perhaps you haven't been following the thread from the start?)

No one is suggesting Doris and Bob should be ignored.  No one is saying they shouldn't be catered for.  They are absolutely an important part of our speedway family.  As important as any other fan.  Maybe more so - they've been there through thick and thin.

And no one has knocked today's Collectors Fair.  Everyone seems to agree it's a great product and they have praised the fans who organised it.   It's a great way for super-fans to pick up old programmes and memorabilia, and see old bike, old leathers and wallow in brilliant nostalgia with like-minded friends.  A great day out for fans.

What we've been reacting to, is a crazy suggestion that all 2026 club promoters should be there because it's a chance to market the sport to new fans.    Of course this is nonsense, and this is what we are all disagreeing with.

This collectors fair provides a great day of nostalgia for diehard existing fans (Doris and Bob).  But young Oliver and Amelia are at home playing on their smartphones.   They were born in 2015, so they are not interested in a show of oily old 1960s bikes.  They've never heard of speedway.   And 30-year-old Tarquin and Jennifer, who run their successful dot.com business, (who could be a potential speedway sponsors of the future), are not wandering round a village hall collectors fair on a saturday afternoon either.   In short, there are no ordinary members of the public, potential new supporters, for promoters to market to.   

It would be a completely pointless waste of a day for Chris Louis, or Matt Ford, or Gerry Facenna to be there at a collectors fair, selling the sport to Doris and Bob, who have been there and bought the t-shirt many years before Tarquin and Jennifer were born. 

That's what we are disagreeing with - The suggestion that current promoters should be forced into wasting their time at a collectors fair when there are far more important issues they need to be addressing.

 

THE DEAN MACHINE……have a read of this and try and absorb it.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

9 minutes ago, arnieg said:

 

Yes 

 

4 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

THE DEAN MACHINE……have a read of this and try and absorb it.

I have read it and thankfully there was a handful of promoters, riders and sponsors there who can see the bigger picture and if anything came to any fruition from it at all then it’s a damn sight more than the naysayers who will argue a point to sit a home and do nothing and expect the fruits to just land on their lap, we are where we are because of that mindset